Congratulations to our top achievers for the May/June 2022 examinations. To achieve this position at J Carter Centre, students must score the highest percentage for their grade level and/or above 90%. They will receive a special trophy and their photo will be displayed on our ‘Wall of Fame’ in the center’s reception area.
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“You are all winners because you had the courage to perform in front of an audience!”
These were the words I uttered to our students before they went on stage to recite a poem, tell a story or shared their opinions in a speech. For many it was nerve-racking and yet fulfilling as the results of months of hard work were unveiling right before our eyes. Friends, family, teachers sat in the audience anxiously hoping that the performances will receive a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Gold Star Award. Our students did not disappoint. Everyone was amazing and everyone delivered as they should. I couldn’t be happier. There were a few tears of happiness when a Gold Star was awarded and a few tears of sadness when the award was not a Gold but everyone learned an important life lesson at the Singapore Performing Arts Festival – with hard work, determination and the willingness to face your fears, you can achieve wonders.
Preparation started in January 2019, when 25 students signed up for ‘The Art of Speaking’. This was a special course which I had designed to prepare students to perform in front of an adjudicator and an audience in a competitive arena. It involved different genres of speaking such as verse speaking, storytelling and impromptu speaking. These genres of speaking required spontaneity, maturity and a strong sense of personal voice. Besides that students had to develop the ability to speak in front of an audience. We had to incorporate different activities in the programme to encourage students to step out of their comfort zone and let their hair down. Some were naturally extroverted which made it easier for them while others had to be less self-conscious. Through it all, the experience produced speakers who dare to take the stage, to compete for excellence and be confident in their own shoes.
During the two day festival, I was a nervous wreck. Although I had been teaching public speaking for more than 10 years, I was sending my students into categories that were new to us. In 2018, when I first fielded students for verse speaking, storytelling and impromptu speaking segments, we performed rather poorly, Our centre dominated the public speaking category but nothing else. We lost to the Malaysians who had a strong background in drama. The competitor in me could not take the defeat in silence. So I reflected and I pondered on how we could do better at SPAF 2019. Thus the Art of Speaking was born. With the help of one of my trainers, Ms Kat, we descended like vultures to hand pick students from the different grade levels in the Trinity College London Communication Skills Programe. We felt that we could coached the chosen ones to do well in the 3 genres we were aiming for. We coax them to sign up for The Art of Speaking and to participate in these 3 categories at SPAF 2019. After 3 months of hard work, Ms Kat and I sat in the audience with smiles plastered on our faces, last minute words of encouragements and fingers crossing. We were more nervous than our students! And they delivered! Some of our students walked away with Gold and Gold Star Awards! What was even more rewarding for me was when a teacher from a Malaysian team came up to me after the storytelling segment and told me that my students were outstanding storytellers! I was so elated yet humbled.
These are the Gold and Gold Star Achievers for SPAF 2019:
| ATHARV JOSHI | STORYTELLING | PA – SOLO (6) 6-9YRS | Gold Star |
| CAYLA LEE XIN EN | STORYTELLING | PA – SOLO (6) 6-9YRS | Gold Star |
| ALISON KUO KIT YING | STORYTELLING | P A – SOLO (7) 10-12YRS | Gold Star |
| HENG YAN YA REI | STORYTELLING | PA – SOLO (6) 6-9YRS | GOLD |
| CHONG JIA QI EVAN | STORYTELLING | PA – SOLO (6) 6-9YRS | GOLD |
| GLORIA LEONG MIN | STORYTELLING | P A – SOLO (7) 10-12YRS | GOLD |
| CHOW LI TONG | STORYTELLING | P A – SOLO (7) 10-12YRS | GOLD |
| ATHARV JOSHI | VERSE SPEAKING | VERSE SPEAKING (15) 8-9YRS | Gold |
| CHEONG JIA QI EVAN | VERSE SPEAKING | VERSE SPEAKING (15) 8-9YRS | Gold |
| CAYLA LEE XIN EN | VERSE SPEAKING | VERSE SPEAKING (15) 8-9YRS | Gold |
| CHAK EU JUEN | VERSE SPEAKING | VERSE SPEAKING (16) 10-11YRS | Gold |
| GLORIA LEONG MIN QI | VERSE SPEAKING | VERSE SPEAKING (16) 10-11YRS | Gold |
| ELLA LOO YUNFEI | IMPROMPTU SPEAKING | Class 21 (Age 8 – 9) | Gold |
| CHLOE HUA (PAN JIAYU) | IMPROMPTU SPEAKING | Class 22 (Age 10 – 11) | Gold |
| CHOW LI TONG | IMPROMPTU SPEAKING | Class 22 (Age 10 – 11) | Gold |
| GLORIA LEONG MIN QI | IMPROMPTU SPEAKING | Class 22 (Age 10 – 11) | Gold |
| PRINAKA LALA | IMPROMPTU SPEAKING | Class 22 (Age 10 – 11) | Gold |
| RAPHAEL TAN YI YANG | IMPROMPTU SPEAKING | Class 22 (Age 10 – 11) | Gold |
| CHEONG HOH IAN REUBEN | IMPROMPTU SPEAKING | Class 24 (Age 14 – 16) | Gold |
| KHUA KENG LI KENRIC | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (2) 10-11YRS | Gold Star |
| ALISON KUO KIT YANG | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (2) 10-11YRS | Gold |
| ALISON LIM YI XUAN | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (2) 10-11YRS | Gold |
| JASMIN GAN JIE MIN | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (2) 10-11YRS | Gold |
| WONG BOXI | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (2) 10-11YRS | Gold |
| ANDREW JONATHAN LEE | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (3) 12-13YRS | Gold |
| CHEONG HOH IAN REUBEN | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (4) 14-16YRS | Gold |
| CAYDEN CHONG MING XUAN | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (1) 8-9YRS | Gold |
| ELLA LOO YUNFEI | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (1) 8-9YRS | Gold |
| HAN YUSHAN JACINTHA | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (1) 8-9YRS | Gold |
| CHUA YI XUAN | PUBLIC SPEAKING | SOLO (1) 8-9YRS | Gold |
| LIM QI XUAN KADENCE | CREATIVE WRITING | 11 (10-12 years) | GOLD STAR |
| CHLOE HUA (PAN JIAYU) | CREATIVE WRITING | 11 (10-12 years) | GOLD STAR |
| CHLOE LIM SI EN | CREATIVE WRITING | 11 (10-12 years) | GOLD STAR |
| CAYLA LEE XIN EN | CREATIVE WRITING | 10 (6-9 years) | GOLD |
| ALISON KUO KIT YING | CREATIVE WRITING | 11 (10-12 years) | GOLD |
| GLORIA LEONG MIN QI | CREATIVE WRITING | 11 (10-12 years) | GOLD |
| LEE RUI EN RIANNE | CREATIVE WRITING | 11 (10-12 years) | GOLD |
| TEH XIN NI CHARLOTTE | CREATIVE WRITING | 11 (10-12 years) | GOLD |
| CLAIRE LIM YI HUI | CREATIVE WRITING | 12 (13-16 years) | GOLD |
We also had many students that achieved Silver and Bronze awards and I would like to say that I am just as proud of their effort and courage for participating and I hope they will try again in 2020. Kenric Khua is a good example. In 2018, he achieved a Silver for public speaking but he did not give up and came back even stronger in 2019 and earned the Gold Star Award which was the highest award given at the festival.
I am now searching for the next group of students for SPAF 2020. If you would like your child to earn up to 5 International Certificates for Speaking over a 2 day Festival, don’t miss the chance to sign up for our Art of Speaking 6 day camp in November 2019 or 12 weeks programme in February 2020. We will get your child performance ready to do his/her best.
These achievements will not only build your child’s confidence and speaking abilities but also his/her portfolio for Direct School Admissions. We have the success strategies to get your child ready. Look out for my next blog post on DSA coming soon. Before I leave, let me share a video of Cayla Lee telling the story that won her the Gold Star Award at SPAF 2019. Enjoy!
Once again, our centre has achieved amazing results in the LAMDA Examinations. We had 100% passes with a Distinction rate of 93%. 64 out of 69 students who took the examination at our centre achieved a Distinction. The highest scores were 96 out of a possible 100. We are happy to say the 4 of our students from various grades achieved a score of 96%. Congratulations to all of our students, parents and teachers for putting in the effort needed to achieve such amazing results.
In the LAMDA Speaking in Public programme, Students are taught to write and deliver their own speeches using proper speech writing techniques as well as verbal and non-verbal techniques to deliver the speech in front of an audience. There is also a segment on ‘Discussion and Conversation’ which teaches the students to interact on a 1 to 1 basis and to hold a conversation on topics that interest them. This segment of the programme has helped many of our students achieve high scores in English Oral Examinations in school.
There is still time to enrol your child in Public Speaking classes for Semester 1. We have very few places left. If you miss registering for Semester 1, the next intake will be in July 2017. We do not take in any students once the classes starts. The spaces remaining are mainly for lower primary students. All other classes are full. To find out more about the LAMDA Speaking in Public programme, please go to this link:
Our programme is 16 weeks long with an In-house test at the end of semester. Students who are keen to acquire an International Certificate which is recognised by MOE can register for the LAMDA exam. The examiner will fly in from London to conduct the examinations at our centre.
All of our trainers are specially selected and trained by our founder Jackeline Carter. Every year, many adults apply to teach at J Carter Centre but only a selected few who meet the stringent requirements set forth by Jackeline will be selected to undergo training and be given an opportunity to teach at J Carter Centre. Trainers’ performances are constantly being reviewed and those that do not maintain the standard of teaching required will no longer be offered assignments at J Carter. This is to ensure that the quality of teaching will not be affected and every student will receive the attention needed even if they are not in a class taught by our Founder.
If you would like to find out more about our programmes or enrol your child in a Semester 1 class, please call our centre at 67372700 and our centre manager will recommend the correct grade and programme for your child. You can also visit our website at http://www.jcartercentre.com for more information.
The vacancies available for Semester 1 are as follows:
Entry 2 – Start Date: Wednesday, 18 January 2017 – 5 places left.
Entry 1 – Start Date: Thursday, 26 January 2017 – 1 place left.
Grade 1 – Start Date: Thursday, 26 January 2017 – 4 places left.
Grade 3 – Start Date: Thursday, 26 January 2017 – 1 place left
Students who enroll in weekday classes will enjoy $100 weekday discount.
Once again one of our students have achieved a first at J Carter Centre for Public Speaking! We are happy to announce that our student Augustus Gerald Tay has achieved 100 marks in LAMDA Speaking in Public Grade 3 Examinations held in June 2016. Augustus’ speech was based on his personal interest Magic.  Augustus is a student of Ms Jackeline Carter and is currently working on Trinity College London Communication Skills Grade 3 with DSA preparation.
If you are keen to enroll your child in our LAMDA Speaking in Public programme, please call our centre at 67372700Â for information on 2017 schedule. We are currently registering students for 2017 Semester 1.
Congratulations Augustus, we are all very proud of you!
Over the years, I have had many students who have written wonderful speeches and achieved Distinctions for the LAMDA and Trinity exams. I will begin posting some of these amazing works so that more people can enjoy reading them. The first one is by my student Lau Shen-I titled ‘Holidays’
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What type of holidays do you enjoy?
There are many different types of holidays such as relaxation, shopping and adventure holidays. Today, I am going to tell you about my holiday to Chengdu in China which was a shopping and adventure holiday. These two types of holidays allow you to explore and see what the place that you are going to has in store for you instead of just staying in your hotel. However, if you are usually very busy, I recommend that you go for a relaxation holiday as you can get away and rest from the rush of your daily life.
My holiday to Chengdu was a very memorable one as I went to many interesting and fun places and it was also the first time I visited a country during winter. I went to Chengdu for a total of five days. On the first day of the trip, my family was very tired from the flight so we rested. On the second day of the trip, we went shopping in a shopping mall called Global Centre. I enjoyed myself as I was able to interact with the locals and shopped for items that were inexpensive. I bought many art supplies as my hobby is painting and drawing. I also went ice-skating with my cousins and sister. After that, we went to an ancient building that has been around for more than 100 years. All the shops there were very old and they sold items that were related to ancient Chengdu. I bought some souvenirs to remind me of that place.
On the third day, we went to the panda reserve. Chengdu takes a lot of pride in its panda reserve, as it has been so successful that it has managed to breed its pandas and they are now thriving in their 5-star reserve. I saw many healthy-looking giant pandas and I even caught a glimpse of a cute red panda! Not only that, I managed to carry one of the adorable baby pandas. After looking at all the panda enclosures, my parents bought some unique panda stamps for me. I learnt that the Chinese worked extremely hard to have their own panda reserve which they finally succeeded in doing.
On the fourth day, my family and I went tobogganing on Chengdu’s snow mountain. We took a cable car up the mountain as it was very steep. As it was my first time seeing snow, I was very thrilled by the sight of it. We each bought a toboggan and slid down many steep slopes. Later, we ate the local food for lunch and it was really delicious. My family and I really enjoyed eating the Chengdu hot pot, which was great during cold weather. It consisted of a spicy broth and many vegetables and meat inside. On the last day of the trip, I felt very reluctant to go home as I really enjoyed my trip to Chengdu.
 All in all, I had a great time in Chengdu and I was also  exposed to the culture and different way of life of the Chinese. I know that you will enjoy your experience too and look forward to leaving for your trip.
Thank you
*Copyright J Carter Centre for Public Speaking PL. Please do not repost this speech.Â
J Carter Centre for Public Speaking 
